[herathequeen]

I have a female dobe she is about 10 weeks. She consistently bites me. I know she is playing but it hurts. She nips and my feet when I walk, bites on my pants legs, t-shirts, hands, toes, etc. I have tried the following:

1. Firm NO!
2. Spray bottle
3. Newspaper lightly on the nose
4. Putting her in the crate and ignoring her
5. yelping
6.barking
7. bitter spray
8. and of course toys

I have tried it all! I can get her to come, sit, and fetch about 85% of the time. But I cant get her to stop biting me. Granted I have not her for a very long time. However, she is getting big fast and biting on me and other members of my family is not going to work. When I tell her no! and then try to giver her a toy, she is not interested. However, if I have a free hand dangling her mouth opens immediately. Shell get my pants leg and start tugging and when I pull away shell growl and pull more. I know I shouldnt engage in tug of war but I'm not, I'm trying to get free and not be bitten. I've tried it all. I cant understand why she picks up the other commands so fast, but wont stop biting. She is teething so I giver her toys and pig ears. They distract for awhile but she's back on me again. In another 3 weeks she's going to be even bigger I need to do something now. I spend plenty of time with her, I didn't work my first week with her. I'm going into the second week doing the same. She lunges at me, shell run away only to get a running start. I don't know what to do, if I should give it more time or what. But I don't know how much time I'm going to have with her getting so big so fast. Also, I have the halti, when I put that on her she violently shakes her head side to side, thrashing about. When I took it off she came at me. What do I do?? I'm desperate.

 

[avalonandon]

This sounds a lot like she needs a bunch more exercise and/or attention.

 

[herathequeen]

This sounds a lot like she needs a bunch more exercise and/or attention.

What do you mean by a lot? We spend at least 5 hours a day outside. That includes naps in between. She has not been wanting to fetch as much these past few days either, she likes the chase game where i chase her around. We live out in the country so she spends all of her time outside running around and sniffing things. Do you have any suggestions other than fetch and chase? I've heard of hide and go and seek but I am not quite sure how to play that with a dog. I don't play tug of war anymore I don't think its a good idea for her.

 

[BoxMeIn21]

That is not aggression - that's being a puppy.

Check out these articles on puppy mouthing and biting:

ClickerSolutions Training Articles --

 

[CharlotteB]

Same thing with my puppy, and the good news is that she's started to calm down. she's now almost 18 weeks. she's teething so she still chews but the puppy mouthing is getting less and less (on me especially! a firm 'no' - just persist).

we go on three short walks a day and then play in the garden and she has snoozes too. I work from home so I'm always here - it doesn't seem to be anything to do with the amount of playing / walking etc we do so I don't think it's always an attention thing as my pup certainly never gets bored or lonely. I rotate her toys etc and a stuffed frozen kong is sometimes a help.

i think it's just a puppy thing... don't lose heart!

charlotte x

 

[Lexxsmom]

sounds like a dobe puppy to me!

Dont worry, with consistent reminders not to bite and you continuing to replace your hand/foot/pants/arm/head with a proper chewing article like a toy etc, she will get better.

Why are you using a halti on a pup that young? A puppy that age doesnt require anything but a nice soft flat collar and a leash. I wouldn't recommend a halti at all for a doberman because of the risk of injury to their slender necks, but DEFINITELY not that young.

goodluck and hang in there

 

[SonjaC1978]

I noticed with my puppy, that if she is tired, she is biting more. She is much better if rested! Don't forget, puppies sleep 80% of the day. Just what I heard.

 

[Juggernaut]

We currently have a 9 and a half week old. She is doing the same thing, we ignore it. Mostly we open her mouth from the pant lets and then look her in the face and say no very firm. She usually runs and if she doesnt then she sits for a minuet just looking at us. We then PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE! We also buy the hock bones from the butcher and give them to her and the rest of the pups, just remember, there is raw meat in them so if she isnt chewing on it put it back in the ziplock and store in fridge.
It helps that we have other dogs as well that she can really "play with".
Dont give up she will grow out of it. Just be on top of it and dont give up.

 

[Dobs4ever]

Welcome to Puppyhood

If you do a search this has been answered before so you can find more detailed info. But this is WAY too much overload for a puppy who is simply teething. PLEASE do not hit her with a paper - not a good idea it will teach her to shy away when you want to get her and it does not teach her what you are wanting to teach.

By 5 months most of the nipping will be over - til then just grab her snout and squeeze and say no biting. Also have toys and give her a toy BEFORE she gets to you. This will teach her what is OK to chew on.

Please do some studying - there is no aggression here. Ask questions so we can help. You are not reading this puppy correctly. Is she Euro breeding??? If so it will take a little longer and more persistence. Being consistent with her is the key and PATIENCE.

Like a child you want her training at this age to be focused on the positive. All she is hearing and experiencing is negatative. Hope that makes sense and will help.

I have a female dobe she is about 10 weeks. She consistently bites me. I know she is playing but it hurts. She nips and my feet when I walk, bites on my pants legs, t-shirts, hands, toes, etc. I have tried the following:

1. Firm NO!
2. Spray bottle
3. Newspaper lightly on the nose
4. Putting her in the crate and ignoring her
5. yelping
6.barking
7. bitter spray
8. and of course toys

I have tried it all! I can get her to come, sit, and fetch about 85% of the time. But I cant get her to stop biting me. Granted I have not her for a very long time. However, she is getting big fast and biting on me and other members of my family is not going to work. When I tell her no! and then try to giver her a toy, she is not interested. However, if I have a free hand dangling her mouth opens immediately. Shell get my pants leg and start tugging and when I pull away shell growl and pull more. I know I shouldnt engage in tug of war but I'm not, I'm trying to get free and not be bitten. I've tried it all. I cant understand why she picks up the other commands so fast, but wont stop biting. She is teething so I giver her toys and pig ears. They distract for awhile but she's back on me again. In another 3 weeks she's going to be even bigger I need to do something now. I spend plenty of time with her, I didn't work my first week with her. I'm going into the second week doing the same. She lunges at me, shell run away only to get a running start. I don't know what to do, if I should give it more time or what. But I don't know how much time I'm going to have with her getting so big so fast. Also, I have the halti, when I put that on her she violently shakes her head side to side, thrashing about. When I took it off she came at me. What do I do?? I'm desperate.

 

[pastabelly]

Our puppy LOVES tug of war! It's his favourate game even with our 3 year old son! I wrote a similar thread to you, not long ago so I know how your feeling but if theres one thing I've learnt is that everyones going through it or have been through it and from other threads I have read they all say it was well worth it!

Things are settling for us, we simply like others have said replace ourselves with something he can chew and then we praise him - sometimes he'll be chewing his toy on my lap and accidently bite me much to his horror when I yelp - he looks at me like, "What?!" Sometimes I hold his teething bone in the air while he's on his back and just let him continually bite it - just a game to him!

Is your puppy socialising with other dogs? We've found Ceasar loves to play with other dogs and if left they will also correct him for you!

I hope things settle for you.

 

[newtodobes]

Your pup may need some 'mental' stimulation/exercise in addition to the physical exercise she's getting. Do short training sessions with her each day if you're not already...5 minutes at a time, a few times throughout the day. Teach her sit, down, stay, heel, 'watch' me, leave it. of course she won't learn this all at once, and not expected to, just short training sessions to make her 'think', they usually catch onto sit and down pretty quick. Making them 'think' does a good job of wearing them out. Also puppy kindergarden classes are a good idea as well, but she may be too young right now...once she's old enough i would enroll her asap (once she has all her puppy vaccines and you have the 'ok' from your vet).

 

[Ninabug]

She needs focused exercise with purpose. Running around and sniffing is great for her, but she needs to be mentally stimulated as well. Put her leash on and go for walks. DON'T let her pull on the leash. If she gets to the end of it a firm tug to remind her there is no pulling.
Sounds like she needs more mental stimulation associated with her physical exercises!

Good luck! That's exactly how my bitch was as a pup.

 

[KenyaARaineCD]

At what age did you pick her up from the breeder? If she was younger than 8 weeks, she may not have learned important lessons on "how to play nice with others" from her littermates and dam.

Perhaps you can try scheduling supervised play dates with older dogs who will teach her to inhibit her bites when playing (among other lessons).

Also, I might get flamed for saying this, but I don't see that playing tug is a necessarily a bad idea. If you teach her, "Yes, tug on this, not on me" then maybe by offering her a tug toy you can redirect her biting from you to biting the tug toy. However, I do agree with others that "hitting" her with a newspaper won't work because it doesn't mean anything to a dog. Dogs don't discipline each other by hitting but by growling and biting, so hitting them doesn't work as a teaching/disciplinary technique.

Best of luck to you and your Dobergal!:wavey:

 

[millerdobes]

"By 5 months most of the nipping will be over - til then just grab her snout and squeeze and say no biting. Also have toys and give her a toy BEFORE she gets to you. This will teach her what is OK to chew on" Dobes4Ever

I have found that you have to teach puppies to be calm to be petted and they need lots of loving. Playing with them is great but sometimes too rough teaches them to play rough. The mother takes their muzzle and corrects them gently as Dobes4ever decribes. It has worked for me. Lots of good suggestions.

Just never seen a vicious puppy at that age. Training and exercise is the key.

 

[clipclop]

agree with Kenya...

For what its worth... Wyatt has such a SOFT mouth... I read some great advice that has worked for me... (forgot where i found it... but its nothing super secret)

When ur puppy bites on you... you need to react like a puppy would. YELP at the top of your lungs. If you dont feel like a complete lunatic/idiot you aren't doing it right.

It was the 1 thing that hands down got Wyatt's attention as a puppy... little guy would sit back on his haunches and do the doberman head tilt! "whats wrong!"? lol... worked like a CHARM!

And I mean yelp yelp YELP ... like ur a puppy on the verge of death! Yelp and walk away. He learns that you are a fragile play buddy and playing with you cant include teeth.

 

[hannah41]

Sounds perfectly normal to me about all you can do is give gentle corrections like holding the snout and saying "no bite". A trick I've used while they're teething is to wet a dishtowel, roll it up and freeze it then give it to your pup, it feels good on their gums.
Lot's of exercise also helps but if you give them to much the sometimes seem to get a little cranky.

Just wait until you experience the Dober teens, when they forget everything you've trained them to do...you'll be looking back at the nipping as a fun time. :sunglasses2:

 

[dobermansrule]

the title to your post: are you serious? I half expected to open the thread and see puppy pictures - like your title is a hook to bring in viewers.. assuming you are serious - she's a doberman puppy for heavens sake.

 

[herathequeen]

If you do a search this has been answered before so you can find more detailed info. But this is WAY too much overload for a puppy who is simply teething. PLEASE do not hit her with a paper - not a good idea it will teach her to shy away when you want to get her and it does not teach her what you are wanting to teach.

By 5 months most of the nipping will be over - til then just grab her snout and squeeze and say no biting. Also have toys and give her a toy BEFORE she gets to you. This will teach her what is OK to chew on.

Please do some studying - there is no aggression here. Ask questions so we can help. You are not reading this puppy correctly. Is she Euro breeding??? If so it will take a little longer and more persistence. Being consistent with her is the key and PATIENCE.

Like a child you want her training at this age to be focused on the positive. All she is hearing and experiencing is negatative. Hope that makes sense and will help.

Thanks! I definitely only lightly tapped her with paper which I'm sure is why she didnt take it seriously and just lunged at the paper. She is not Euro. I will remain consistent and patient.

 

[herathequeen]

At what age did you pick her up from the breeder? If she was younger than 8 weeks, she may not have learned important lessons on "how to play nice with others" from her littermates and dam.

Perhaps you can try scheduling supervised play dates with older dogs who will teach her to inhibit her bites when playing (among other lessons).

Also, I might get flamed for saying this, but I don't see that playing tug is a necessarily a bad idea. If you teach her, "Yes, tug on this, not on me" then maybe by offering her a tug toy you can redirect her biting from you to biting the tug toy. However, I do agree with others that "hitting" her with a newspaper won't work because it doesn't mean anything to a dog. Dogs don't discipline each other by hitting but by growling and biting, so hitting them doesn't work as a teaching/disciplinary technique.

Best of luck to you and your Dobergal!:wavey:

She has a play day this saturday with a 1 yr old male! Thanks!

 

[ENS]

Our dog does this as well, we have been telling him NO and sometimes grabbing his muzzle..hopefully he catches on soon!

One thing I have noticed when playing with other dogs, he seems a little too aggressive IMO. Our friend has a boxer the same age (17weeks) and our dobie grabs her by the ears and lips and shakes his head from side to side, like if he wants to rip the dog apart... the boxer dosent cry or anything, but it looks like michael vic ownes our dog..lol

another friend has a older lab, and he tries to do the same thing to her too.

Does that seem like normal puppy play?